The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared well past the 50,000 mark for the first time ever on Friday as Wall Street bounced back from losses across the technology sector taken earlier in the week.
The blue-chip index surged 1,206.95 points, or 2.5% to close at 50,115.67.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also soared 2% and 2.2%, respectively, but not enough to avoid a weekly loss. The Nasdaq, which suffered a three-day sell-off, ended the week with a 1.8% decline.
Tech stocks like Nvidia and Broadcom emerged as key winners in the stock rally, rising 7.9% and 7.1%, respectively. Oracle and Palantir also rose 3.2% and 4%, respectively.
Bitcoin also jumped 11% to just under $70,000 – a strong rebound after it briefly sank below $61,000 overnight to its lowest level since October.
That put it more than 52% off its record high of $126,000 in early October 2025, when investors were optimistic that President Trump would ease regulations on the industry.
But software stocks continued to struggle Friday over fears that AI advancements will automate these companies’ services and effectively dwarf the software industry.
ServiceNow fell 1.9%. Salesforce traded up 0.7%, after falling about 0.5% earlier in the session.
Amazon also remained an outlier on Friday. The stock plummeted more than 5% as earnings disappointed investors and planned spending of $200 billion on AI, chips and robotics sparked fears over whether massive AI spending will actually reap future profits.
“Tech stocks have been dropping as concerns grow that AI may supplant traditional software applications, reduce the utility of legacy search engines, and divert online advertising to AI engines,” Kenin Spivak, chairman and CEO of SMI Group LLC, told The Post.
“As often happens, sellers depressed stock prices to a level that bargain hunters find attractive, leading to at least short term gains. Prices may continue to bounce around as investors evaluate the implications of AI.”
Spivak said the same train of thought applies to Bitcoin: “When Bitcoin’s trading price falls, collectors who believe there will be other collectors step in to push up the price.”
Bitcoin’s gains helped stocks with heavy cryptocurrency ties, like Robinhood Markets, which soared 13.5% – the largest gain in the S&P 500.
Coinbase Global rose 13%, and Strategy – the largest corporate owner of Bitcoin, formerly known as MicroStrategy – skyrocketed 26%.
Investors appeared to use Friday’s rally as an opportunity to shift away from growth stocks toward value, as Goldman Sachs rose 4.2%.
Small-cap stocks also saw gains, sending the Russell 2000 Index up 3.6%.
A better-than-expected consumer sentiment figure on Friday also likely aided stock gains across sectors including the airline industry. United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines rose between 7% and 9%.
Meanwhile, gold futures rose 1.8% to $4,979, while silver ticked up 0.3% to $76.94.
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